The Wanderer
by DanRider007
Summary: Alexei Roderick Pines had always been an outcast. Abandoned by his parents at the age of six, bullied relentlessly at an orphanage, and left to wander the country. With a terrible virus outbreak, he faces an uncertain future. A future he won't face alone. Note: this takes place a few hundred years after the show. These characters are the descendants of the Gravity Falls characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I in no way own Gravity Falls, nor do I own any of it's characters. It all belongs to producer, animator and voice actor, Alex Hirsch.**

 **Hello, fellow readers.**

 **You may already know me. I'm the author of the Gravity Falls Fanfiction, Cypher's Labyrinth.**

 **I'm terribly sorry for not posting any updates for said Fanfiction as of late. I have, in truth, been both extremely busy with schoolwork, and stuck with writer's block.**

 **Although I have the main idea of the next chapter, I have no idea how I am to go about writing it. It will be a while before the chapter gets uploaded.**

 **However, I have had this idea for a very long time. It doesn't fit at all into my other story for reasons you'll understand as soon as you start reading.**

 **But I cannot let it go to waste.**

 **This takes place a few hundred years after the events of Gravity Falls. The main characters in this story are descendants of the original characters of Gravity Falls.**

 **So assume that, for instance, if a character is a female Northwest, then it looks like Pacifica. Or if a character is a male Pines, it looks like Dipper.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

 **The Wanderer**

Rainwater poured from the sky like bullets being fired from above the clouds. Noises erupted like tiny explosions from each raindrop crashing towards the ground.

A lone figure trudged through the darkness of the evening sky. His face was hidden by a hood, and his body by a black trench coat.

He was walking at a balanced pace. Not too fast, out of fear of slipping and falling to the wet ground, and not too slow.

The boy's name was Alex Pines. He had been with his parents, until he was put in an orphanage at the young age of six.

His parents, their names escaping him, had never offered any justification. They simply dropped him off at the orphanage and left.

He never liked them when he actually did live with them anyway. But that did not mean he liked the orphanage any better

The bullying was remorseless.

He had been called so many different names that he lost track of them. He was beat up by the older kids, and the younger kids dared not go anywhere near him.

He was an outcast. He didn't belong with those kids. He didn't like his parents, but being with them was much more pleasant than dealing with the relentlessness of the kids at the orphanage.

His spirits were only further dampened when eager couples started visiting more often, opting to adopt a lucky child and raise them as their own.

But even the adults resented him. No one wanted to adopt the fortuitous kid that never left his room during the day, and never talked to anyone.

If only they knew the true reason behind his behavior.

By the time Alex was fourteen, the orphanage had been shut down. The place wasn't getting any business to fund the adoption program anymore, since all the kids had found loving families.

All of them except Alex.

He had stayed. Days turned to weeks as he waited and waited. He knew no one would come for him, yet he remained.

He only got kicked out when he was found by construction workers. The property owner wanted them to tear the old place down, to free up room for other projects.

Alex had been wandering ever since. He had been through roads, forests even small suburban neighborhoods.

He had, of course, visited small shopping centers and inns, for rest and to bathe. Unsurprisingly, the money he used to pay for such comodities was stolen.

But even then, no one dared talk to him. After all, who would talk to the young boy that would never even show his face, and dared not utter a single word?

If not for the fact that he could still hum to himself sometimes, he would have forgotten he had a voice.

He had spent months wandering the country, completely unsure of where he even was. Of course, he did not care. No one would even so much as glance in his direction unless provoked to do so, and usually, this meant that they wanted to steal his things.

But the suffering of loneliness did not end there.

It was just like any ordinary day. Ordinary for Alex at least.

He was wandering through another suburban neighborhood. It all seemed well until he noticed something was off.

The place was completely uninhabited. Cars were upturned, some of them burning, and house doors were covered in blood, some of them hanging off their hinges.

He stopped when he heard the thudding of footsteps coming from behind him.

Immediately, he pulled out a small knife that had been concealed withing his trench coat, and turned around to face whoever was trying to sneak up on him.

To say he was shocked would have been an understatement.

The creature's flesh was rotting, and part of its torso looked as though it had been chewed off. The creature's eyes were dull and lifeless, and it was limping towards him.

Alex had been too frozen in fear to move. The creature was slow, but it saw him, and what it was going to do was beyond Alex.

He tried to run, but it was as if his feet were nailed to the ground.

Seconds felt like hours as the creature made its way towards the young man standing before it.

Alex's hands finally caught up with his thoughts as he stabbed the creature in the head. It let out a single pained growl before falling to the ground and going completely limp.

And that was not the first creature Alex had seen. He had soon discovered that they were once humans. He could not however, figure out why they had turned into those putrid beasts.

Luckily, after wandering for another month or so, he found another person. It had been a dangerous encounter, her nearly taking his head off with a rifle, and him nearly lodging one of his throwing knives into her head.

But they soon became familiar with each other. She had told Alex that her name was Oceana Northwest, and that her parents had been dead since the beginning of some sort of virus epidemic. She was about the same age as Alex, and had spent the first few weeks of the virus outbreak surviving with her uncle and his two children.

But they all died after their base had been overrun. Luckily for Oceana, she had managed to escaped before being bitten.

She wandered for days, too exhausted to mourne the loss of her only family. It had been about eight days before she found a cabin somewhere in the outskirts of a small village, filled with supplies. That was where Alex found her.

He had told her that he was an orphan, but he became a fugitive after the orphanage had been shut down and he was kicked out. He told her of his time wandering the country, and that by the time he had actually met one of the creatures, it had already been months after being kicked out of his former home. He refused to tell her of the bullying though. It was too painful to talk about.

He did however, tell her of his various encounters with the creatures. Nerds is what she called them.

"I don't know why I call them nerds. I just suddenly started calling them that one day, and the name stuck. Of course, that as when I actually had a small group with me," She said, handing Alex a small canister of water and some peanuts. A midnight snack.

That had been a few days after they met.

Alex continued through the darkness that loomed over him, his hood being soaked from the harsh rainfall. In the distance, a bundle of trees could be seen. Its distance from Alex was hard to tell from the rain.

but he knew where he was going. He and Oceana had established a base on the edge of a wooded area. It was a small treehouse. Only a mile away, there was a small suburban town, so supplies were plentiful.

After all, it was just the two of them.

Alex stopped when he heard the soft thud of footsteps somewhere off to his left. True, the rain was loud, but surviving for almost a year had sharpened his senses.

He slowly pulled out a combat knife that had been strapped to his belt. He found it at a small abandoned camp on one of his supply runs.

Minutes felt like hours as he waited, listening for even the slightest of movements.

He immediately turned around and attempted to strike when he felt a hand grab his shoulder. To his utter surprise, his strike had een blocked by another knife.

He sensed the attack coming from his left, and so he dodged and performed a roundhouse kick. A satisfied smile plastered itself on his face when he heard the grunt of a female voice, and the sound of a thud.

He bent down to examine the individual that had attacked him. It was indeed female. She had fair skin and her hair was a dark shade of brown. She looked about the same age as him. He could not put his finger on it, but he felt as though he knew the girl.

He strapped the combat knife back onto his belt, and picked the girl up. He then made his way back towards his initial destination.

It was only minutes before he reached the all too familiar territory of the camp that he and his companion had set up. They never used it though. They set it up as a decoy in case bandits somehow found the area.

He walked up to a tree and knocked on the trunk five times. Each knock was harder and louder than the other.

It was a secret pattern that Alex and Oceana had opted to use. It was another security measure. If either of them heard the pattern, they would instantly throw down a rope ladder.

And that was exactly what had happened.

Alex struggled slightly with the weight of the strange female on his shoulders, but he managed to climb into the tree house.

As soon as he reached the hatch that lead inside, Oceana was there to help him up.

Of course, she was not happy to see that Alex had brought company.

"Alex, who is this?" she asked, sporting a frown.

"I don't know," Alex replied calmly walking passed her with the girl still hoisted over his shoulder.

"You don't know?" Oceana asked, the discontent evident in her voice.

Alex lightly placed her on the ground before speaking.

"Look, she's unconscious right now. If you're that scared, then restrain her," Alex said, his voice calm as he turned to face his companion, looking her straight in the eye.

She felt her face heat up.

"Okay," Oceana said, her voice softening upon gazing into Alex's beautiful brown eyes.

"Let her sleep on my bed. I think that kick I gave her will keep her out for a while," he said walking towards another room within the treehouse.

"Wait, what?! You kicked her?!" Oceana asked, snapping out of her trance-like state, more surprised than she was angry.

Alex stopped.

"Yes. She snuck up on me with a knife. We're all lucky she actually managed to block my attack, or I would most definitely be a little bit bloodier than I currently am," Alex replied, acting as if the occurance was of the norm.

Of course, the response recieved an exasperated sigh from his blonde haired partner.

"What am I to do with you Alex," she said in a defeated tone. Of course, she was feigning it. She dashed towards him and tackled him into a pile of pillows that had been conveniently placed in one of the corners of the room they were in.

She proceeded to sit on his stomach, and attempt to tickle him. But he was not ticklish, nor was he even remotely amused by his friend's actions.

"Oceana, what is the meaning of this?" Alex asked in a dull monotone.

He began to feel the slightest bit uncomfortable when she leaned close to his face. He knew not what she was planning, but he assumed it was not something he would find particularly amusing.

He was relieved when she only spoke to him.

"You need to loosen up a bit sometimes, ya know? I mean sure, it's the apocalypse and there are zombies everywhere, but everyone needs some time to relax a bit," she said, leaning away from his face.

"Oh? And what does the lovely lady have in mind?" Alex said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Oceana knew he was being sarcastic. Despite that, she still could not help but blush ever so slightly.

Luckily, Alex was not paying attention to her face in particular, so he did not notice it.

If he did notice it, he either ignored it, or blamed it on the chilly weather.

"Well I-" She started, but was cut off by the sound of groan. But this was not the groan one would hear from a member of the undead.

Immediately they both got up to investigate. Their eyes fell upon the girl that Alex had brought with him, lying on the floor where he had placed her, clutching her ribs in pain.

Though the female was a stranger, and could have been potentially dangerous, Oceana rushed to her side.

"Are you okay? Say something, stranger!" Oceana said, her voice thick with concern.

"I thought you were upset that I brought her here?" Alex asked, more amused than he was disturbed by the situation. Of course, it took quite a lot to disturb someone of his nature.

Months of wandering in loneliness, mixed with the undead flesh-eaters, had made him that way.

"Oh quiet you. Get me the first aid kit," Oceana said, perturbed by her friend's slightly snarky attitude.

What happened next suprised them both. More Alex than Oceana, but they were both surprised nonetheless.

"A-Alex? I-Is that you?" the strange female asked weakly before passing out again.

Oceana was voiceless for the next few seconds, too shocked to speak. But Alex was not. He ran to her side so quick that Oceana thought she saw a slight blur.

"Who are you? How do you know who I am?" Alex asked urgently, grabbing the girl by the front of her shirt. But she had not responded. The blow to the ribs must have been bad.

"Alex! Leave her alone! I think she needs to rest," Oceana said, her voice laced with concern.

Alex obliged and let the girl go, before picking her up and walking to his room.

"Do you still want to restrain her?" Alex asked seriously as he placed the girl on his bed.

"No. She apparently knows you, so she probably won't try anything," Oceana said, glancing at the girl.

"I guess you're right. She won't try to hurt me..." Alex said, his voice growing hushed as he spoke the last few words.

"Alex, what's wrong? Is there something you're not telling me?" Oceana asked, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

She cared a great deal about him. In the months they had spent together, she learned more and more about him. She knew when something was bothering him.

"It's nothing Oceana, I just need rest," Alex said, lightly grabbing the hand that had been placed on his shoulder.

Oceana felt butterflies in her stomach from her companion's gentle touch.

"Alex, I've spent more than a year with you. In the span of those long months, I've learned more about you than anyone I've ever known. I know something is bothering you. Just please don't hide your feelings from me," Oceana said, moving closer to Alex, looking him in the eye.

He eventually caved. Her puppy dog eyes were irresistable. Even for him.

"It's just that...I have a strange feeling that I somehow know her. Like She's been an important part of my life..." Alex said, his voice growing softer with every word spoken.

"Don't worry Alex. She seems to know you. Once she wakes up, she may be able to clear things up. For now, let's do like her and get some rest," Oceana said, putting a hand on his cheek.

Alex did not respond.

Without thinking, Oceana began leaning closer to his face. Her mind was racing with thoughts. Her face was tinted with a light shade of red.

Alex noticed this, and spoke.

"You're right. I think it's best we get some rest," He said calmly.

"What? Oh! Of course! R-rest!" Oceana said, flustered. This amused Alex.

Before she could do anything else, he grabbed her and pulled her into a gentle hug.

She nearly fainted, but returned the hug nonetheless.

"See you in the morning, Oceana," Alex said, letting go of her before walking towards the living-room portion of the tree-house, and laying down in the pile of pillows.

"Yeah...Rest well..." she said softly before retiring to her own quarters.

She could hardly sleep. She was too caught up in her own thoughts to fall asleep.

'What if I had actually kissed him? What if he doesn't like me back? What if this ruins our friendship? I feel so stupid right now!'

Eventually, sleep overcame her senses, and she drifted off.

She soundlessly slept that night, dreaming of Alex.

The two friends had a long day ahead of them. What with an odd female resting only a room away, and the fact that this female somehow knew Alex.

It was going to be an interesting day, that was for certain.

* * *

 **Well? Thoughts? I love zombies, and I love the idea of a story revolving around the Gravity Falls characters' descendants. Review if you find any errors, and don't forget to favorite both me and the story if you enjoyed reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Dislaimer: I in no way own Gravity Falls, nor do I own any of its characters. It all belongs to producer, animator and voice actor, Alex Hirsch.**

 **The Wanderer**

It all happened so fast.

One minute, she had been stalking what she thought was a member of the undead, and the next, she blocked a knife attack. It was all she could remember from the previous night.

That and, as might be expected, the blow she took to the ribs from the unknown lifeblood that she had been stalking that night.

It obviously wasn't a flesh-eating corpse, now was it?

She slowly woke from her dreamless slumber, only for her eyes to be greeted by a strange room, with wood floors, walls and a wooden roof.

'How classy' she thought sarcastically.

She attempted to get up, but she promptly regretted the decision.

Her ribs hurt like hell!

She had spent a sizeable amount of her time practicing a few martial arts, but she never had the chance to implement the skills she learned into real life situations, such as the night prior to her laying down on a bed in a considerable amount of pain.

With no other choice, she simply laid there, clutching her ribs, trying as hard as humanly possible not to let tears fall from her brown eyes.

Of course, this task had been proven difficult, as whatever - or whoever - had kicked her in the ribs must have been training for years to have such velocious reflexes, and such forceful attacks.

Or it could have just been a huge rock that some idiot threw at her from a distance. Either way, it hurt her to even so much as move.

When she was sure that the pain had dulled by an amount worthy of consideration, she opened her eyes to scan her surroundings.

She saw a window on one of the plain, unornamented wooden walls. Outside of the window, she saw nothing but leaves.

The leaves made it beyond the bounds of possibility for any sunlight to illuminate the small room she was in.

But at least she knew she was in a treehouse of some sort. A very dull and ugly treehouse, if she might say.

Whoever lived there must have not been a very creative person. Seriously, who builds a house without decorating it?

Of course, this person was more than likely the one who had maimed her.

She would take her revenge if she could even move without feeling as though her ribs were melting.

Unable to deal with the pain, she tried to fall back asleep.

The task was proven beyond considerable as she heard the shuffling of footsteps outside of the room she was in.

She also heard muffled voices. But she didn't care about those. They most likely belonged to the degenerates that kept her locked up in an undecorated wooden prison cell.

Of course, she assumed it was locked. If the individuals whose voices she had heard had any common sense, they'd have locked the door.

She would have checked the door, if it weren't for her undermining bodily state.

Of course, it was also because she was also a bit slothful in terms of getting out of bed. Especially in early mornings. Seriously, what kind of right in the head human being gets up at such an unholy hour?

The muffled voices began faiding, so she assumed that they had either left the ugly treehouse, or were simply in a differrent part of it, out the vicinity of which her hearing reached.

She had very good senses, so she assumed that the treehouse must have been big if she could not hear the two bastards that had kept her there.

Or perhaps there were more lowlifes in the treehouse, and she was in more vexation than she initially thought. There was no way of knowing. She could not even turn over, let alone move.

Just as she had achieved as much comfort as someone in her position possibly could, sleep almost overcame her senses.

Almost.

The door bursted open, and a girl walked in, disturbing her from her nearly unconscious state.

Of course, this infuriated her to no end. No one messes with her sleep schedule.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to get some sleep here!" she said in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Yes, I do mind. We need answers from you, and you're not leaving until we get them. Not that you could leave anyway, but you get my point," the blonde girl said, crossing her arms and smirking at the other girl's situation.

"Wipe that smirk off your face before I do it for you, blondie," she replied, raising her voice.

In hindsight, it was most probably not a very bright idea to threaten a captor when in a position of imparement and weakness.

"Yeah. Right. Try to actually move before anything else hun," the blonde girl said, smirking wider at her obvious power over the other girl.

With that said, the blonde left the room, leaving the door open behind her.

"Stupid bimbo..." the injured girl muttered under her breath. "Seiously, it's the 24th century, who the hell even says 'hun' anymore?" she asked, directing the question to no one in particular

She attempted to let sleep claim her again, but she was interrupted a second time.

And boy was she mad this time.

"Hey! You mind getting he hell out! I'm tryna-" she stopped as soon as she layed eyes on the individual standing before her.

She was as shocked as she was happy to see him again.

"I'm assuming you don't know that it's not the brightest of ideas to threaten in a position of enfeeblement," he said camly, completely unfazed by the girl's outburst.

What she did next surprised him.

Despite feeling a though her ribs were twisting into millions of knots, she got up tackled him into a hug.

Not knowing what to do, he simply stood there. He hugged back when he felt her tears staining his coat.

"There, there. Everything will be alright...I guess," he stated monotenously, awkwardly patting her on the back.

"I can't believe I've finally found you! I've been searching for eight years!" she yelled, her voice slightly muffled by his trench coat, which had been soaked with the strage girl's tears.

Despite the immense pain in her ribs, she felt happy.

That is, as happy as one could get a world filled with undead, flesh-eating corpses.

Alex could not respond, and this worried the girl standing before him.

"A-Alex...what's wrong? Aren't you happy?" the girl asked between sobs, as she released him from her grip.

"How do you know me?" Alex asked in bewilderment.

The girl's face immediately fell. It was as if the life had been sucked out of her in an instant.

"Y-you don't remember me? Alex...I-it's me...Your sister," she said, unable to stop her soft voice from trembling.

Alex was stunned to silence. What had the girl been talking about? He had not remembered ever having a sister.

The only thing he remembred of his family was that his parents abandoned him.

So what was this girl doing, claiming to be his sister? Could she have been wrong? It was a possibility.

Finding his voice, he finally spoke in a dull monotone, "I have no sister. If I did, I'd have remembered her," he stated simply.

"Alex, stop messing with me! It's me! Lilly Pines! I'm your twin sister!" she said, almost yelling.

Her merely uttering his last name had filled him with perplexity.

But no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember who the girl was. At the same time, he could not help but find the name familiar.

Lily Pines.

He was sure he had heard it before. If only he could remember from where!

He suddenly clutched his head, letting out a pained groan.

This, of course, had caught the blonde girl's attention, as she rushed into the small room. She kneeled down next to Alex.

"Alex! Alex what's wrong? It's me, Oceana! speak to me!" she yelled, grabbing the front of his coat.

But he did not respond. His groans only turned to screams of agony, and he was still clutching his head.

she was nearly in tears.

"What have you dont to him? You witch!" she screamed, turning towards the other girl, getting ready attack her.

"I've done nothing! He just started grabbing his head and groaning!" Lily said as she narrowly dodged Oceana's attack.

"Stop lying!" came the blonde girl's response.

"I'm not lying!" the Lily said. This time, she was a bit too late, and ended up being tackled to the floor, blocking the furious punches of the blonde.

The girl's promptly ended their brawl upon registering the silence that filled the room.

They got up off the floor to notice that Alex was silent, but still clutching his head.

They heard Alex say something, but neither of them caught what he had said.

"Alex! You're okay!" Lily said as she was about to make her way towards him, only to be pushed back.

"You better leave him alone if you know what's good for you!" Oceana said, blocking the other girl's path.

"What's your deal woman? Get out of my way!" Lily said as she was getting ready to throw a punch.

She stopped when she heard Alex say something. But she did not quite catch it.

"Traitor..." he said in a low voice.

"Alex! Tell this blonde bimbo that I'm your-" Lily attempted to say, only to be cut off.

"Traitor!" he said louder than before. He had gotten up off the ground, and was now standing up. He towered over both girls.

"What? Alex what are you talking about?" Lily asked, her voice trembling.

"You know what I'm talking about! I remember it now! You were there when I was taken away! You were there when I was abandoned!" Alex yelled, pointing a finger at her, tears streaming down his face.

Both girls were stunned to speechlessness.

Oceana had only seen Alex cry on one occasion. It was only hours after they had first met when she had popped the one question that set him off.

 _"So, what happened to your family?"_

 **I like how this is coming along. Review if you've found any errors, and favorite if you enjoyed reading this!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I in no way own Gravity Falls, nor do I own any of its characters. It all belongs to producer, animator and voice actor, Alex Hirsch.**

* * *

 **The Wanderer**

Lily Pines was a trooper. She had dealt with many injuries in the past, both before, and after the virus outbreak.

She had mastered one martial art, and was training in multiple others. If she had learned anything from her trainers, it was how to handle pain.

She knew that her rib was most likely fractured. It hurt her to take deep breaths, but she tried not to give into the temptation to not do so.

She had spent a small amount of her time studying medical science before the outbreak. She knew, both from a past experience, and from her studies, that taking shallow breaths would cause mucus to accumulate around her lungs, and in turn could cause chest infection.

It still didn't change the fact that it was painful.

In bed she was, clutching her ribs, taking deep - and painful - breaths. After the whole ordeal with Alex miraculously regaining his lost memories, the adrenaline rush she had went through ended, and the pain in her ribs returned. Tenfold.

That was what Lily had stated at least.

She almost wept with joy when Oceana, though angry and confused, came to her with painkillers.

However, despite the fact that she was in relatively less pain, she could not shake the feeling of discomfort. The only times she had been visited were the times in which Oceana would bring her the medicine, or food.

Her brother, whom she'd spent so long searching for, was avoiding her after they had finally been reunited.

The pain from that alone was worse by far than any physical pain she had ever been subjected to.

It made her feel worthless. As if the years she'd spent wandering through the country had all been for naught.

She laughed bitterly to herself at the very thought of it.

Years prior, had she'd have been told her brother would outright ignore her upon reaching the end of her search, she'd have put that thought at the back of her mind, disregarding it completely.

Of course, the unexpected series of events had only made the emotional pain of the situation much worse. After all, she had expected this to be one of, if not, the single most splendid day of her life. The day she'd be reunited with her twin, whom had been taken away from her when both of them were at their most volatile.

Taken away by her abusive parents.

She'd never forget the immense pain and suffering those two monsters had put both her and her brother through. It seemed as though everyday, one of them would do something to anger the two adults.

The punishments were remorseless.

Each time she'd speak out of turn, she'd be beaten and locked in her room. Lord only knew what those two sadists had done to her brother.

The pinnacle of their abuse was when Alex had practically been dragged to the door of their simple one-story house. He was unable to move. How long he'd gone without a proper meal and an adequate amount of sleep was far beyond Lily. She had also noticed quite a few bruises and cuts.

Her largest concern however, was why they were forcing him out of the house, and towards the car, why her mother had been pulling with her a suitcase, and why her father had been dragging the poor boy, like some sort rag doll, through the house.

However, she dared not speak. She knew the dire consequences of such an action.

She could not handle the pain of looking her brother in the eye as he was dragged out by their father. She could not bare to gaze into his bloodshot eyes, unblinking, as if calling out to her.

"Help me. Please."

She could almost hear his voice in her head uttering the words in hushed, painful whispers, as if it were telepathy. Even imagining it had threatened the downfall of tears from her eyes.

And yet, she stood there in silence, as if accepting of her brothers fate. As ashamed as she had felt, she focused almost all her willpower on gazing, for possibly the last time, at her dearest, and only, brother. The one person who had always been there for her, whom she would seek consolidation in at her most unfavorable of moods, whom she had shared her most blissful memories with.

Remorse and shame washed over her like gallons of water as she stared at her brother. The hurt and betrayal unmistakable on his tear stained face.

He had not said any words, but the agonized facial expression he had been sporting made her heart drop, almost as if Alex himself had screamed at her.

"Why Lily? Why? Why won't you help me?"

She couldn't hold back her tears any longer. She wanted to help, but she had let her fear of her maligning parents overcome her senses.

To say she had acted like a coward would have been an understatement.

She ran up to her room as soon as she heard the door to the small house slam shut. She did not know how long she had been in her room, allowing her tears to pour like a powerful, majestic waterfall, but she was certain it was more than a few hours.

At some point, she had fallen asleep, only to be woken up by the sound of a door slamming, and the sound of footsteps treading closer and closer to the shelter that was her room.

As soon as she had heard the handle to her bedroom door turn, she fell back onto her bed, pretending to be deep in slumber.

Whether or not her parents knew she was faking was beyond her. But it didn't stop her from going pale and stiff at the words her father had uttered.

"Looks like we won't be seeing your dear brother for a long, long time, my dear."

And with that, she had been left alone, her only company being her thoughts.

The memory had threatened the downpour of tears from the brunette's light brown eyes. The torment and misery brought forth by the terrible memory, mixed with the physical discomfort in her rib had almost been too much for her to handle.

It did not help that her dear brother was ignoring her.

"Hey, sit up, you gotta take these-" Oceana cut herself short as she walked into the room, almost dropping the painkillers in her hand. The tears falling from the brunette's eyes were more visible than a bright red ball on a grass field.

She had been wary of this girl ever since Alex had brought her to the treehouse. She had almost immediately took a disliking towards her when they had fought, and all feelings of slight pity for the girl's injuries had been drowned by anger and hatred after Alex had regained his memories.

Despite herself, she slowly walked up to the injured girl.

"Hey, calm down. Why don't you tell me what's wrong?" Oceana said softly.

She did not know what kind of response she had expected, but the one she had recieved most definitely surprised her.

Lily, despite her pain, turned over and looked Oceana in the eyes.

"What did my brother tell you about me?" Lil asked, her voice trembling and her eyes bloodshot from crying.

Oceana had been stunned to silence by the sudden question. Only hours ago, she had deemed Lily an enemy. Surely the brunette did not expect a straight answer, did she?

No matter how hard she tried, Oceana could not shake the uncomfortable feeling of being under the brunette's gaze.

It was almost as if Lily had been staring into her soul. The eyes are the window to the soul, after all.

Lily repeated herself.

"What did my brother tell you about me?" She asked, raising her voice slightly.

Oceana had finally found her voice, though her words came out as a stuttered mess.

"I...What do you mean? He never...I don't..." Oceana had felt as though her tongue was betraying her.

"Please, Oceana. What did my brother say about me? Tell me, please." Lily said, saying the blonde girl's name for the first time.

Her voice was soft, her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes were red and puffy.

"I don't know what you mean..." Oceana said, her voice steady, yet still retaining a nervous tone.

Oceana had made a conscious effort not to look the brunette in the eyes. The pain that she had seen within Lily's brown orbs had put her at ill ease.

It made her feel guilty for attacking her only hours prior, and it made he feel like a fool for completely believing what Alex had told her and not even considering listening to Lily's side of the story.

Despite being unnerved, she could not help but turn her gaze towards the brunette.

It was at that moment that something in her had finally clicked.

"Alright Lily. I think you more than anyone deserve to know why your brother is acting the way he is" Oceana paused to take a deep breath, and also to see if the girl in front of her had anything else to say.

Taking Lily's silence as a sign, she continued.

"You see, ever since I met him, he had always been secretive about one thing. It was as if the topic triggered something within him, which is why I tried as much as I could not to ask him about it.

"The last time I had asked him about it - his family - he broke down. His tears were like waterfalls. Imagine that? Only a simple question caused him so much pain, and so much grief.

"But ever since he brought you here, I kept getting more and more curious. After the whole ordeal with him regaining his memories, I asked him about it. At least this time, he seemed more open about it.

"When he talked about his parents, and you, it was as if it burned his tongue to speak. All this time he's been harboring so many negative emotions towards you and those two degenerates you call parents.

"He also told me about how you were there, watching, when he was taken away. He said that you stood there, doing nothing. But I know for certain that he had been stretching he truth when he said that you simply didn't want to help him.

"I know nothing about siblings. I was an only child my entire life. Sure, I had cousins, but I know it isn't quite the same. The bond betwene siblings, twins especially, is stronger than anything. But that only leaves me with one question.

"Why? Why didn't you try to stop them Lily? I know you love your brother! I know that you'd do anything for him! So why?" At that point, Oceana had been on the brink of tears. Her vision blurred as a lone glided down her face, leaving a visible streak.

Lily had never felt as much shame in her life as she had in that moment.

"I was a coward." She stated simply, turning over so as not to witness the blonde girl being reduced to tears.

Oceana had stared long and hard at the brunette, unable to come up with a response. Lily had taken this as a signal to say something more. To clarify why she had deemed herself cowardly. Surely anyone in her position would have been scared beyond rational thinking.

She took Oceana's silence as a signal to continue.

"For as long as I can remember, our parents had abused us. If we so much as spoke out of turn, we'd get beaten up. I was never allowed to even so much as leave my room to go see Alex whenever I had been punished. Lord only knows what they had done to him.

"I still remember it like it was yesterday. My dad was dragging my brother from his room, obviously after beating him too hard to even stand, and my mom was dragging a suitcase, following my dad.

"I couldn't even bare to look at him. His face was so full of pain, so damaged by the emotional and physical hell our parents had put us through.

"I wanted to help him Oceana! I wanted to do something! But I couldn't! I was too scared of my stupid parents. I was too scared of what would have happened to me to even think about what my brother would have been put through.

"I can still see his face in my nightmares. The face of someone who had just been betrayed.

"Oceana, you don't know how much I wich I could just go back and change things. To do something about our parents. To save Alex.

"The fact that I could have done something haunts me everyday. I don't think I can ever forgive myself for betraying my brother, and after he regained his memories, I knew he'd feel the same way." Lily had been shouting, tears flowing freely from the corners of her eyes.

Oceana was stunned.

She knew that Lily had to have regretted what she did in the past. It was of human nature to regret an action so treacherous.

But she had never known that her parents' abuse was that bad. Bad enough that her fears had even forced her into letting her own brother be taken away.

She almost felt relief when Lily spoke to her, her voice soft and trembling.

"You can go now Oceana. I-I need to be alone." Lily said.

And with that, Oceana left the room, leaving Lily to her thoughts once more.

Only this time, the brunette could not have felt more relieved to be alone.

* * *

 **This chapter is kind of angsty, but don't worry. The adventure will definitely come in future chapters. In the meantime, if you have enjoyed reading, please favorite me and the story, and if you've found any erros, please review. Thanks for reading!**


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